Blindfolded Tone Part 1: The Power of the Blue LED

The year was 2003. U2 had finished the Elevation Tour and was writing their new album, we sent each other chain email jokes instead of youtube links, Elijah Wood was a hobbit, and Coldplay was still indie. I was rockin’ a Boss GT6 that had a broken delay tap tempo (meaning, I didn’t understand what dotted eighths were), a Crate GFX120, a Fender PA, and a BC Rich Warlock. Bronze series, baby. And I was happy. Sure, perhaps a tad blissfully ignorant; but happy.

Then I visited a new church. And my life was changed forever. The deeply Biblical message? The innovative outreach program? The intense and powerful worship experience? Nope. That guy over there is playing all these little pedals velcro’d to what looks like a piece of plywood. And my life would never be the same. I was cautious at first. I joined the team, but just played bass. No one really sees the bass player. (Sorry, bass players.) I would just kind of lurk in the shadows and thump my notes, trying to peer through the drumset at the vast and wondrous world of colored paint and blinking lights on the plywood beyond. It beckoned.

As fate would have it, one morning the second guitarist was sick, and I was asked to bring my guitar rig that morning. I was excited. It was to be a good showing. After all, I had two amps! Right? A Crate and a PA are better than one Fender Twin, right? It’s one versus two! That’s gotta be louder! And he would surely look in wonder at the professionalism of my GT6, without the primitive velcro and plywood. But somehow I knew…a different world awaited me. A world where magical creatures like Klon Centaur’s carry you off into faraway lands where the color of the led actually changes the sound of the pedal, overdrives are chewy, and you desperately pretend to know which pedal you’re supposed to like better because for the life of you they both seem to sound exactly the same.

So we play the set, and I’m pretty stoked. Pedalboard guitarist has been staring at my GT6 the whole time. And even now, as I’m packing up, he’s looking in the back of my amps. Nope, no magical talent knobs back there; that’s all from right in these hands, buddy. And then he walks up to me:

Guitarist: So, how do you like that GT6?
Me: Oh, this old thing? I don’t pay much attention to effects, really. *(I hoped he hadn’t seen me dusting between the knobs earlier that day.)* But it’s actually really cool! It has a volume pedal that can also be a wah, and you can have any effect you want, it even has amp models and speaker…
Guitarist: I mean, how do you like the tone of it?

Tone. This legendary and heralded word of all words. I wish I had made a better showing upon my first hearing of it.

Me: You mean like does it stay on pitch?
Guitarist: *(with a pained grimace)* I mean, how do you like how it sounds?

How it sounds? This was all so sudden…

And with that he threw the cover back on his magical colors and velcro and plywood. The blue led’s blinked in perfect syncopated unison. Some of them even swelled on and off. It was intoxicating. I felt all my will slipping away from me…

Me: Uh, I guess I like the sound of it.
Guitarist: No you don’t.
Me: No I don’t.

I continued to stare unblinkingly at the blue led’s.

Guitarist: Do you think your amps sound full?
Me: Well…ya…I mean, they’re run in stereo, and I’ve heard…
Guitarist: No you haven’t.
Me: No I haven’t.

I tried to pull away from the strange and wondrous sight, but reality was fading. Fast. I made a half-hearted attempt at resistance by singing a Liquid Tension Experiment off-tempo time signature in my head, but it made no difference. Blue led’s. Blue led’s.

Guitarist: do you like the tone of that BC Rich?
Me: I…I guess. The guy at Guitar Center said…
Guitarist: Guitar Center knows nothing. Good tone can never be found within those four walls.

And that was how I started hearing things without the benefit of my ears. Now, don’t get me wrong…for the most part, that was one of the best days of my life. Tone is so incredibly vital, and it’s appalling how many guitarists overlook it. It’s not all about skill. Have you ever heard ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’ on kazoo? Tone matters. However, that day also did start breeding in me just a little bit of hearing things with preconceived notions of how they are ‘supposed to’ sound. And making up differences in tone in my head where in reality I couldn’t hear any. Which is always going to be a battle…we are never going to fully get over the psychological phenomenon of expectation versus reality, and how the two tend to color each other. However, I have become increasingly convinced as of late that at the very least, I do need to stop shying away from the question.

So here it goes. A new series on tone…without your eyes. I have no preconceived notions going into this. On the one hand, good quality in gear makes sense that it would translate into good tone. On the other hand, there are a lot of great-sounding guitarists using inexpensive gear. Mostly pedals. This series will focus first on those, because by and large, with a good amp and good guitar, if a pedal just simply effects your tone and then stays out of the way, you just might be able to get away with not mortgaging your house to get onto the end of a 7 year waiting list for a phaser.

I’m sure there will be some personal bias as well, but hopefully the blue led’s will be balanced out by the fact that I have no money and would really not mind being able to sell a few things, buy less expensive replacements, and use the extra money to live off of. Ah, who am I kidding…I’d use the extra money to buy a new acoustic. But hey…the principle’s there, right? Nope. …… I’ll work on it. Ah, nope again.

So this first test is with a drive pedal. It may be a distortion, it may be an overdrive, and it may be a fuzz. It’s in the context of a new piece I just wrote, and it might be an inexpensive pedal. Or, it might be an expensive pedal. It might be boutique, and it might be mass-produced. Or it might be one of those boutique ones without custom paint and a high price tag, so they obviously don’t sound as good. The pedal is at the bottom of the screen, underneath the black bar making the video widescreen. (Because I’m so rad.) Here’s the video:

Guesses anyone? Specific pedal guesses are fine, as are price range guesses, or general brand or just sound quality guesses.

I’m excited to start trying to hear without our eyes. I, for one, was absolutely wrong when I tried this pedal out. Blown away wrong. And for what it’s worth, the guitar is my normal Prairiewood hanging mostly around the neck pickup this time, the amp is the normal Matchless, the trem that favors heavily is the Dr. Scientist Tremolessence, and I re-arranged my board slightly so that the reverb and Arion delay came before the second Timeline so that they could be looped, rather than effecting the loop. Recorded with a mic. Ah, I’m still a gearhead at heart.

And if you just think blue led’s sound better no matter what and that’s all that matters, post away! Enough of those posts, and I’m jumping back onto that bandwagon away from the dangerous tonal precipice of objectivity and buying a Cornish pedal and hunting down Alexander Dumble!! Ok, that sounds really, really nice right now……this experiment might have just failed before it began.

Oh, and it’s not the GT6 as the mystery drive pedal in the video. lol Come to think of it, I ended up selling that GT6 to a lawyer who lived in a field…I was so happy to get rid of it that it didn’t strike me as odd at the time, but……

Darn it. Ignore my first post. I didn’t even read the blog. I just listened to the clip…

Now that I know the hints you gave, my only guess is possibly it’s an overdriven memory man. I would say a POG, but those are still found in stores, I think, although I haven’t seen one in a long time.

OR!!!! It’s a Line 6 Pod, the first version!!?!? Gosh, you really got me on this one. None of my guesses really fit. I’m pretty sure, given the fact you repeat quite often how you don’t have any money, it can’t be a memory man, cause you wouldn’t go off and buy one of those right now.

It probably isn’t a POG because you say the pedal is off screen, and your POG is clearly on screen.

And it can’t be a Pod ’cause technically, you would be using it for it’s intended use. Darn you, Karl.

By the way, my roommate just bought a Twin Amp off craigslist for 500. That thing sounds freakin crazy good. And it changes my belief about the obsolescence of high-wattage amps. I use to believe high wattage had no use. This thing is super loud, but has extremely powerful tone even when it’s attenuated way down to bedroom level.

I must admit I am unable to guess. In fact, not to be too big a party pooper, but I don’t care to guess.
However, reading your post and listening to your song was inspiring. I am now headed to my own guitar and amp to “hear” myself without my eyes. I’m going to just play.
Thank you.

man, i don’t read this blog for a few months and now you’re into cheap gear? what’s going on. i think you’re weeks from buying an M13, karl ;). we want you on our team.

Seriously, you start worrying about making good music rather than having good tone and you realize that a) it’s way harder, and b) it’s way more important. also, thanks for micing your amp on these demos, it’s approximately a trillion times better.

as for drives, i actually don’t like this one. which means it’s probably like a landgraff or something…real guess: BD-2. which i actually kind of like in real life, so go figure…

anyway, i really like your cool noises, so who cares what the pedal is…

First off, let me say that I actually really, really liked the tone from this pedal, and it’s most likely staying on my board. Definitely not an every song tone, but that singing compression really put the hooks in me for tasteful use.

Guy–interesting guess. That’s a pretty decent pedal!

Gtr1ab–thanks, bro. That means a lot! And that’s the whole reason for this post, too. Music over gear! Props to ya!

Spencer–cool guess, and good pedal!

Craig–what?! I have lost all respect for him. At least tell me he’s using handwound strings or something!! hehehe In all seriousness, props to him if he’s getting great tone out of that.

Paul–haha Well, my principles haven’t changed…I still like analog dry signal and all that junk (hehe), I’m just wondering about my mind versus my ears. So, not sure I’ll jump on with the M13, but I’m just starting to wonder about differences between certain circuit boards with totally different prices, but surprisingly similar-looking components. However, there are folks like you and Dan and Jason Bast who post here, who are using the M13, and getting way better tones than I am. So…

I love what you said about music…you’re right, a good melody is way harder than good tone, although I think both are important. But truly, music is melody.

And you’re going BD2? Cool guess. And you didn’t like this drive tone? Ahhhh. I actually really did, in its place. And no worries on mic’ing the amp…I do it for the actual pieces, and have been more and more for gear demo’s. Gotta give people what they ask for!! Cheers, brother!

Tom–hmmm…you never know…I did have a FAB Metal at one time, and this might be it…picked it up for $5 used at Guitar Center. hehe

Sam–lol Oh, that was good. And I might just do that!! Bright blue led’s!!

Colton–thanks, bro! I thought it did, too. In fact, it was this pedal’s sound that inspired the song…especially the darker ‘marching’ and ‘scurrying’ sounds right before it switches to major. And cranked Guv’nor is a good guess!!

I’m guessing Bad Monkey. Yes, It’s great to see someone who has had some success in the music world, now leading worship, and using the kinds of gear most people can use. When I saw the PFR show last year and on his new CD he’s got darn good tone.

Poverty has a distinct way of refocusing ones priorities. I was out of control gear wise for about 3 years. I read TGP like it was the bible (Sad..I know). Then recession and a job change struck. Suddenly…I was having trouble just buying strings.

I agree, that inexpensive gear can give good tone. But it often takes a lot of digging to find it. I ran off of cheap stuff for 20 years. My tone was pretty good. Regrettably, when I look back, I probably spent about the same amount of money that it cost for the stuff I have now because of the search.

I made the decision to go higher end when I started playing at church. However, I personally don’t feel that there is much of a difference between a $700 tube amp and a $2000 one. Or that there is really a major difference between a well setup $700 guitar and a $2000 one. But…with some stuff, you get what you pay for.

Some of my “boutique” stuff I will never get rid of…because the sound matched or exceeded the “hype”. Some stuff…I sold off or gave to the worship department because the “hype” didn’t match the sound.

My old Fender Princeton wasn’t boutique when I bought it. Either was my old Fender Strat. They still sound and play pretty darn good and together, I think they cost me $800. So…there you go.

And the pedal…I think it’s some tube screamer based product…but what do I know…I own a Klon.

Rhoy–good guess. And he was strangely like a Jedi in his effect on other guitarists. Or maybe it was just his led’s. haha And actually, I stole the conversation format from DeNiro’s first scene in Analyze This.

Craig–good guess also. And I need to hear his current tone for sure!

Sam–lol The sacrifices we make for tone!! haha

Nater2–very good guess as well!

Nick–haha Oh, that’s awesome. Kinda. Ya know.

Mark–I’m in total agreement with you. Ya, a lot of times you get what you pay for, and many times boutique equipment sounds a lot better. I’m just wondering currently not so much about guitars and amps, but about pedals with very different prices whose guts look very much the same. And that was a great guess as well! Mmmm…Klon.

Guy–another good guess. And I don’t necessarily hate the Bad Monkey. I think it’s a great $30 drive…I just don’t think it lives up to the hype of sounding ‘just like’ a Zendrive or a cranked Dumble. lol And I’ll mention it early next week, I’m thinking. I have a video all ready to go for it.

well Karl, there may be guys here with m13s that have better tone than you, but i’m sure i’m not one of them.

not that i wouldn’t like to have an even better sound, but – mediocre guitarist that i am – i’m realizing that the marginal benefit to me (and the audience/congregation) from spending my time and money listening, recording, transcribing, taking classes, gigging, writing and seeing live music is sooo much larger than finding an OD with a tone control centered on 800 hz instead of 1200 hz. of course, there are still a few blue LEDs on my board, so who am i kidding…

Uhhh….modded Blues Driver? I was expecting a riff that really focused on the drive aspect, like a giant chord or something. It seems to me that you could use any OD pedal to spice up an ambient tsunami like you just created there. I don’t know…for all the time we spend obsessing over gear as church musicians, I’ll bet 99% of the congregation isn’t wondering where the tone suck is coming from. But it sure does effect how you play if your tone sucks. hahaha. Have you wondered what you could come up with if you went to the riglet exclusively for a month? You may be surprised with the new things you come up with. I’ve been on the budget for a while and limited gear forces me to think waaay outside the box to create something similar to what is coming out right now. Great demo Karl!

I think I’m going to cry. Not a single other guitarist in my church, out of like twelve, knows the difference between a Tubescreamer and a DS-1. “They’re just distortion right?” “Delay is basically useless” “What’s an AC30?”

Sigh… No one respects my opinion there about tone either. They all think that it doesn’t matter. WHAT CAN BE DONE?! I mean this church is HUGE! like 3,000 people huge! And the worship leader always tells me to “simplify my setup” down to one overdrive and one delay, and a volume pedal. Hahaha it’s a nightmare.

Anyway lol sorry for hijacking the comments but if anyone has any input on this, please feel free to chime in. This may seem random, but Karls former self (with the GT-6) reminded me of these folks I deal with all too often. haha

Paul–there’s OD’s with tone controls centered on 800 hz instead of 1200 hz?! I’m so getting one!! hehe j/k What you said about music was great. I think there’s a balance that we tend to miss. Is tone important? Sure. But are you surfing Gear Page for four hours trying to trade your v3 OCD for a v4 OCD instead of writing music or heading to a local jazz club? Then we’ve got a problem. Good stuff, bro!

Matt P–thanks, bro. And good guess! I like it. And ya, I’m going for how cheap and boutique pedals compare to each other within the context of songs or ambience like this. I’ve done tons of sterile situation videos, but what about when it counts? And for this one, I actually really liked how it worked in the context of the song.

And great points…I’ve got a couple posts coming up, one about folks telling the difference who aren’t musicians, and one about the Riglet Part 2. And I’m with ya on the budget thing. It’s actually turning out to be pretty fun!

Paul–ya, you’re real close there, because a lot of that sustain is actually from the pedal. I was blown away by the sustain from it. And I’m not sure, with all the delay going on, if a cheaper or more expensive pedal would’ve sounded much different. I was actually going to do a video test of it against one of my other pedals, but as I was prepping to do the test, that other pedal broke and is now at the builder’s getting fixed. It’s the one that goes in the that ugly hole on my board. haha

Nate–very nice guess. And I agree, a good pedal…

Andrew–good guesses as well!

And about the worship thing, no worries on hijacking. What style of music does your church play? And does the congregation totally worship to it? Because there have been times when I’ve been at a couple churches where my style totally hasn’t fit; but the style they do just reaches their own congregation like crazy! And I’ve had to say, awesome! I’ll strip down and play some blues guitar for you guys today, and then I’ll probably wish you well and maybe find a church where I’m a better fit.

Now, if the congregation is hating what’s going on, and itching for something a little more modern, then maybe it’s a good thing to try to just ease your style in. But that’s a tough road, and your sound has to be so good that people don’t think, ‘Hmm…different’ but ‘Whoa! That’s amazing!’ Which is a place you might be at tone-wise, but I know I’m not. lol I guess what I’m saying is that I think that if the congregation is connecting and worshiping, then as servants, our job is to continue to try to reach them where they’re at.

Now, there is also the added angle that perhaps our style can be integrated into the current style, but it sounds like that may not be the sentiment there. And if they already have a great lineup of guitarists who fit the current style that people are worshiping to, maybe it’s time to humbly find somewhere else to serve. And then again, if the congregation is obviously not connecting it, then it might be time to pray and see if God has you there for a reason. The problem with that is that you’ve got to be ultra-humble and slow in doing it, and usually that means making sure you nail their style first so they see the humility and respect from you, before you start to subtly suggest change.

Wow, that came off as really preachy!! So sorry about that. I’m sure you’ve got it handled. Just my little commentary on similar situations in the past.

Karl, trust me lol I DON’T have it handled I don’t think many of us do lol.

Anyway we have two venues, “Live” where there’s about 2,000 people, that are somewhat contemporary and into Paul Baloche, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, etc.

This is the venue with the anti-delay/verb soundguys haha. The ‘simplify your setup and play like Brewster but without all the shredding or we kill you’ venue. Haha

Then we have “Wired”. You’d fit in perfectly here. About 850 people who want to be as “post modern” as possible by playing five year old hillsong stuff lol. To be honest I absolutely love playing here. The venues sound is more controlled so I can sound however the heck I wanna sound haha. (this usually means spacey swells, pads, and general Hammock-y stuff, ooooooor going totally insane lol.) the congregation here are the kinda people whose knowledge of “Indy” stretches only as far as Muse. Don’t get me wrong, I love Muse, but these are the people who have only heard Black Holes and Revelations, and when you say Radiohead, they go “Who? Oh you mean Coldplay!”

Sorry I’m sounding really negative. I love the congregation and I love all the bands I’ve mentioned (EXCEPT BREWSTER) haha I’m just trying to emphasize my point a bit. The Wired congregation likes Ambient, Experimental, Post Rocky stuff, and I love playing there. The Live congregation is a much older crowd and I’m trying to learn how to appeal to that taste.

My point was that the other guitarists don’t know jack about gear, and their tone suffers for it. I’m not putting them down, if they dig their tone that’s cool. I just wish I had someone else at my church I could geek out and talk about the Edge’s use of Analog vs Digital Delays, and My Bloody Valentines Reverse Reverbs. Hahaha. Oh well. Guess I’m just bein selfish. Wishful thinking perhaps? Lol

Interesting comment. Wow – it’s so bizzare the differences between USA and UK churches. There are a few large churches here in the UK, but they are in the minority. Our church has around 80 people attending regularly and the only hassle I have is not being able to use my ’79 Strat due to the annoying hearing aid induction loop giving me grief (and the usual hassles of my amp being too loud, bah!).

To be able to have the joy of attending a church with more than 400 people let alone the opportunity to play at a church with more than 80 people would be great.

So read your comment with interest. Part of me laughing and agreeing, another part thinking consider yourself fortunate that you have the opportunity to bless that many people with your talents and gifts (despite the sound guy being annoying). Interesting stuff… we should do “Church Swap” kinda like the “Wife Swap” TV programme!

Excellent post. I have no idea about the pedal used as I think I could have achieved a similar sounding drive from either a stock BOSS right through to a Boutique unit I may have owned at some point! Just goes to show that there’e *potentially* a lot of hype around boutique pedals (opening a mine field here). Don’t get me wrong, some boutique pedals I’ve owned are great (Lovepedal Kanji Overdrive for example).

But if I HAD to guess, I’d probably say it’s a cheaper pedal of some kind, in the BOSS price range. Unsure to an exact product though, it’s just something about the drive that reminds me of my old DS-1. Anyway, Karl, your pedal board looks amazing, I wouldn’t know where to start! I’m pretty old school, just a guitar-wah-amp kinda guy. Excellent playing though Karl (as always). Nice one.

Hey Karl and everyone else. Thoroughly loving this site. The reviews and hilarity are everything a tone snob/gearhead needs in one sitting. I do admit that at one point changing the red LED’s in a DS-1 and and SD-1 to bright blue and convinced myself they sounded better. Thankfully, I’ve been on a tone quest for the last few years and have repented of my past tone sins.

Today, my board, which weighs in at 60lbs boarders on the ridiculous, but i’m convinced i need an M13 (used for delay,reverb, modulation only)and 2 DL4′s in my effects loop for maximum worship-ness at church. Of course, I can’t explain why one must have 2 OD’s, 3 fuzzes, and a comp hitting the front end of my amp to my wife.

Anyway, thanks for all the useful info and tips. As a worship pastor this site is invaluable. Keep it up.

I read somewhere once (i think it was on a diystompbox forum) that Blue leds actually draw more power and therefore lower a pedals headroom. So there’s at least one person out there who thinks blue leds sound worse.

Andrew–I’m sure they’re on there way. Musicians tend to attract. And you might just end up teaching the others a thing or two about sounding good while they play the awesome blues riff, and maybe learn some sweet riffs in the process. At least that’s how it usually happens for me. In my head at least. hehe

Sam–that church swap idea is awesome!!

And thanks for the kind words, and great guess! Totally agree that certain pedals definitely don’t live up to the hype. haha

Matt–thanks for the kind words. And 60 pounds with 3 fuzzes? You are most welcome here, my friend!

Logan–ooh, great guess as well!

Dan W.–lol That is the best ever!! If that’s true, I’m going to hurt myself. haha

I really can’t here it. It is covered up in all of that boutique delay.

But in all seriousness, it seems a little ts based. Based on the ridiculous amount of compression, i am inclined to go with the bad monkey over the bd-2. both are similar, but the bad monkey has always been more compressed to my ear.

I really can’t here it. It is covered up in all of that boutique delay.

maybe there’s a lesson to be learned here … pedestrian OD/Dist covered up with layer of boutique delays can make it better than it really is. I remember reading something about delay making things better

Honza–thanks for the kind words, my friend. And I am actually inclined to agree with you…I liked the drive, too.

Charlie–great guess! And lol at the delay comment. Strike. Strike true. But at the same time, that was partly the point of the experiment…to see how big a difference there is in the context of a song, or in conjunction with other effects and sounds.